E.u. Official Tough on Israel

October 31, 1996

BRUSSELS (Oct. 31)

Days after naming a special envoy to the Middle East, the European Union is taking a tough stance on Israel.

“Israel has to fully honor the Oslo peace accords. The accords must be respected and cannot be changed by the Israeli government,” the E.U. commissioner in charge of Mediterranean policy, Manuel Marin, said Wednesday, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

Marin was speaking before the European Parliament, the European Union’s legislative body.

The European Union on Monday named Spain’s ambassador to Israel, Miguel Angel Moratinos, to serve as a special envoy to the Middle East.

Marin, who also is from Spain, said Wednesday, “If all the governments in the world said, like the Israeli government, that the agreement was signed by the last government and needed to be renegotiated, there would be breakdown in international security and we would return to the law of the jungle.”

The 15 E.U. foreign ministers gave Moratinos a mandate at Monday’s meeting in Luxembourg to establish contacts with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators and to suggest possible E.U. initiatives for advancing the peace process.

The naming of a special Middle East envoy was part of a broader program backed by some E.U. members to increase European participation in the Middle East peace process.